Gordon Finished as Tropical Storm, Will Dissipate Soon

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Gordon, which passed over the Azores
as a hurricane, is losing strength and should dissipate within
two days, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Gordon’s winds dropped to 45 miles (75 kilometers) per hour
as of 5 p.m. East Coast time, when it was 370 miles east of the
islands and moving to the east-northeast at 16 mph.

The system is expected to disintegrate several hundred
miles west of Portugal, the hurricane center said in its last
advisory on Gordon.

At its peak, Gordon was a Category 2 hurricane with winds
of 110 mph before cold water weakened it and powerful wind shear
tore at its structure. The center said those forces will keep
ripping at Gordon until it falls apart.

Gordon was the seventh storm of the six-month Atlantic
hurricane season. An eighth system, Tropical Storm Helene, broke
up over Mexico on Aug. 18.

The center is tracking three potential storms in the
Atlantic basin. A large low pressure system about 1,000 miles
east of the Lesser Antilles has an 80 percent chance of becoming
tropical in the next two days.

A cluster of storms off the eastern coast of Mexico has a
30 percent chance of developing and one south of the Cape Verde
Islands also has a 30 percent chance.